Iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) and thalassemia are known as ailments of microcytic anemia. Among these, iron deficiency anemia is said to account for about 50% of anemias.
There are blood cell counting devices which classify the blood cells contained in the blood collected from a patient, and count the number of blood cells of each type. Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 11-326315 discloses a method of differentiating thalassemia and iron deficiency anemia using measurement values of CBC items, which are basic measurement items in blood cell counting devices.
Since iron deficiency anemia has test values similar to those of thalassemia, it is difficult to improve the differentiation accuracy of iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia by differentiation methods using measurement values of CBC items. Therefore, further improvement of anemia differentiation accuracy is desirable.